ERC Stories

Space exploration may one day reveal clues to the origin of the universe and life on Earth. In the meantime, scientific advances in the field have supported “space services” for everyday life such as weather forecasts and satellite navigation on our phones. With his ERC grant, space engineer Prof. Colin McInnes explored the mathematics of new families of orbits around the Earth for spacecraft, from micro-satellites to large solar sails. The objective was to map these orbits and to uncover potential applications for new space technologies in fields as diverse as space science, Earth observation and telecommunications. Credit: Charlotte Bewick - Swarm of ‘smart dust’ micro-sensors in Earth orbit for space physics applications.

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“Space has a huge impact on our lives,” says Prof. McInnes, “but it is invisible to us. It is amazing to think that a technology such as satellite navigation which thirty years ago was only available to the military is now embedded in our smartphones and available at the touch of a button. When we look at a map on our phones using satellite navigation the locational point is the top of a pyramid which stretches right back to the rocket which launched the satellites into space”. Space technology is now harnessed for a wide variety of civilian uses – telecommunications, monitoring crop growth, urban development and climate science.

At the Advanced Space Concepts Laboratory, Prof. McInnes' team has used an ERC Advanced Grant to explore the potential of various orbits, both close to and far from Earth, to support future space products and services. They used mathematical modelling to understand how natural forces such as light pressure from the sun can generate new families of orbits, for example using the pressure of sunlight on a large reflective sail to hover stationary over the poles of the Earth for climate science observations.

Capturing asteroids

Prof. McInnes’ fascination with space began as a young child gazing at a picture of a rocket on his Junior School classroom wall. Add to this an inspirational physics teacher at High School demonstrating projectile motion and he was hooked. Through the VISIONSPACE project, his team also investigated Near Earth Objects (NEOs) – asteroids or comets in orbits close to that of the Earth. The team has looked into how they could exploit the natural effects to manipulate the orbits of NEOs, ultimately to engineer some of them for capture at the Earth and exploitation for future in-space resource use.

In the course of the project, the team discovered a new class of easy-to-capture asteroids that could be mined for raw materials in the future to support future space ventures. Within a catalog of 10,000 space objects, the researchers identified a new category of “Easily Retrievable Objects” (EROs) and 12 fairly small asteroids, ranging in size from approximately 2 meters to 60 meters in diameter, which could be captured with existing space technology. Applications include baking water out of small asteroids using heat from the Sun to provide resources for future human space exploration.

The researchers also recently calculated ways to use so-called “sticky” orbits, where the asteroid is not strictly captured but would remain at an accessible distance from the Earth. Their method, yet to be developed and put to the test, could be cheaper than others currently considered by space agencies.

The freedom to think

Prof. McInnes describes the ERC funding as “a fantastic opportunity and essential to the health and wellbeing of the European research base because it is the only funder which is supporting unconstrained frontier research in this way.” In the context of his five-year VISIONSPACE grant, it meant that the team was encouraged to pursue curiosity-driven research, not least because they were freed from the need to regularly re-apply for funding.

The funding led to the establishment of a new Space Institute at the University of Strathclyde, a regional Centre of Excellence in satellite applications and strong links with Glasgow-based CubeSat manufacturer Clyde Space Ltd. It also gave the research team the time and space to explore unexpected ideas, such as applying prior research by astronomers on the orbits interplanetary dust to design new ways of removing space debris, such as old satellites or spacecraft fragments, ultimately “cleaning space”.

Since finishing his ERC project Prof. McInnes has moved to the University of Glasgow, where he is James Watt Chair, Professor of Engineering Science and hopes to bridge the forthcoming centenary of his Chair with the intellectual possibilities of science and engineering of the next hundred years – further opening the “envelope of possibilities for our future”.

The group of researchers are using coral skeletons and sediments to analyse abrupt climate changes in the Atlantic over the past 30,000 years. The data collected also show how deep-sea ecosystems are affected by changes in the ocean such as the concentration of carbon dioxide and water circulation. The scientific crew transited from Tenerife to Trinidad, stopping at selected sites to dive down and collect data from undersea mountains, many of which had not been explored in any detail before. To reach these depths, the scientists used the ISIS Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV), a remarkable piece of equipment which can travel far beyond the range of human divers.

Speaking after the first dive, Dr Robinson explained: "We have collected samples of coral skeletons from a range of depths, some of which are likely to date back millennia. We were amazed to see the wide array and abundance of fauna living on and around the seamount from corals to sharks."

Pioneering research for the future

Robinson's project explores exciting new areas of oceanography. One of the team's aims is to discover the conditions required for cold-water deep-sea corals to survive in the central Atlantic, an area for which data are scarce. To do this, they couple a modern ‘snapshot’ of where and why corals live today with a historic perspective gained from determining the age of fossil coral populations. Documenting such information is particularly important as these ecosystems are thought to be particularly vulnerable to changes in ocean chemistry. For example, a parameter known as aragonite saturation, a key predictor of coral abundance, is decreasing as the amount of carbon dioxide in the ocean increases. Projections indicate that by 2100, around 70% of deep water corals are likely to be living in undersaturated waters.

One of the most innovative aspects of the project is the new geochemical techniques the scientists are using to analyse their samples. When applied to coral skeletons and sediment from the seafloor, these techniques should reveal ancient changes in heat and carbon levels, particularly during times when the global climate moved rapidly from cold to warm conditions. In another first for deep-sea research, the ISIS ROV has taken coral skeletons from exactly the same locations as water and sediment samples, so that they can be compared more accurately in a single program of tests.

As our climate continues to change, their findings could help to predict how and when ocean transformations will occur. As Dr Robinson points out: "It is only through looking at the history of the earth's climate that we can predict what might happen in the future."

A voyage to cross frontiers

On board the James Cook during its 48-day voyage were a team of 19 researchers, including another ERC grantee, Veerle Huvenne, who is working on an underwater mapping project. The multidisciplinary team brought together ideas from diverse fields, including oceanography, geochemistry and marine biology, in order to cross frontiers in our present knowledge of the oceans.

When asked about funding for the voyage, Dr Robinson said, "The ERC grant has been fundamental in enabling this whole research program. Among other things, I have used the money to hire the highly specialised equipment aboard the James Cook and to recruit a great team. One very important aspect of our work is creating inspirational opportunities for the next wave of upcoming scientists in Europe and this project has allowed me to bring together a varied and talented group of researchers."

Dr Robinson will talk at TEDx Brussels about how the ocean's environment has changed and what might happen in the future. She will speak at the ERC session, starting at 2.15 pm.

Prof. Coleman first demonstrated how to create nanomaterials in this way by producing graphene – one atom thick monolayers of carbon with unique electronic properties. He showed that subjecting bulk graphite to sonic energy while suspended in a liquid causes carbon monolayers to ‘exfoliate’ from the graphite. This produces a liquid dispersion of graphene monolayer flakes. In 2010, he received an ERC Starting Grant to expand his award-winning research and demonstrate its wider potential. Indeed, it would take the weight of an elephant balanced on a pencil to break through a sheet of graphene the thickness of cling film.

Prof. Coleman’s team is now applying this technology to many other industrially important materials, for example by exfoliating monolayers of tantalum sulphide, a metallic conductor; boron nitride, an insulator; and molybdenum disulphide (MoS2), a semiconductor. These form the building blocks for nanoelectronics applications – but the significant element is that it is done in the liquid phase. So by allowing the suspended monolayers to settle out onto a surface and form a continuous film, the team are producing stacked layers of conducting, insulating and semiconducting films, of controlled thickness and with well-defined electrical and optical properties – from which a host of devices such as semiconductors and detectors can be manufactured in bulk.

And the potential of this research is not only in electronics. Monolayers of molybdenum disulphide are 20 times stronger than steel, so it can be used to strengthen other materials, such as plastics, which are also processed in liquid solvents. Prof. Coleman’s team have demonstrated exactly this by co-depositing a small amount of MoS2 with an everyday polymer plastic – which more than doubled its strength!

Plastics are ubiquitous in structural applications – for example as car components. So doubling the strength means that half the material is needed – reducing the amount of oil required to produce plastics in the first place, and reducing the weight, and thus the emissions from cars. This is why Prof Coleman’s research is described as a ‘gateway technology’ – if they can demonstrate industrially tractable applications, then the potential take-up is enormous.

In advance of his TEDx talk, Prof. Coleman said: "I am very much looking forward to sharing the latest developments in material science with the audience at TEDx. The discovery of graphene has opened a door to countless potential real-world applications and I think the people at TEDx will find the prospect of creating two-dimensional monolayers of a variety of materials as exciting as I do!"

Listen to Prof. Coleman discuss these developments during the TEDx Brussels ERC session at 2.15 pm. He will also be present at the ERC booth in the 'fumoir' area of BOZAR at coffee breaks to demonstrate how to make graphene in a kitchen blender.

Exploring not only the factors that influence total job creation but also the sectors that attract most jobs has obvious implications for policy-makers. The aim is to make policy recommendations based on a clearer understanding of how European labour markets function. Prof. Pissarides offers the example of Sweden which “creates twice as many jobs in social sectors like healthcare or childcare as Italy. This partly explains why Sweden has more overall employment than Italy, especially of women. Preliminary research tells us that a main factor behind this difference is Sweden’s social policy which heavily subsidises social care, whereas Italy’s subsidies are miniscule.”

The results of this research are still preliminary. Early observations have revealed that European-wide patterns disguise a lot of interesting differences between countries. Women are key to these differences. The UK and the Netherlands have labour market policies which privilege part-time jobs, whereas Scandinavia subsidises jobs in health, care and education: all traditionally female dominated areas. These findings could have implications for future female employment rates because they offer a policy model for how to encourage women into work.

This research builds on previous work on European employment trends. Despite existing efforts in this area, there has been little research into employment activity by sector: work which is vital if we are to better understand the effect of policy on employment patterns. We need to learn not only how many people work but also what kind of jobs they do.

Beyond university

Prof. Pissarides explains that this work is of great significance beyond academia because “it is about citizens’ jobs and their wages. Most citizens spend the majority of their time in their place of employment. Family welfare depends on the income generated in those jobs. Knowing how many and what kind of jobs a country can support is essential to understanding how we can improve ordinary citizens’ employment situations.”

Prof. Pissarides’s research into labour economics is driven by the desire to understand and explain problems. When he began, published work in this area said very little about how to model solutions to the problems being described: “We learned several different approaches, each with its own conclusions and policy recommendations, but we were never told which one was right and which wrong. I decided to start my research by ignoring all those, starting from a new beginning and then, when I had my tools, checking where the other approaches could be fitted.”

Prof. Pissarides describes himself as working “best in an office without music or other interruptions”: “Just an empty desk in front of me populated only by pen and paper or a laptop. The biggest threat to that ideal environment is the internet and the many things that it brings you: email and access to websites connected with work and some not so connected. Of course, I am not blind to the benefits of the internet: it is indispensable in my work. But frequently it takes more discipline than I can muster to use it efficiently before it takes over my whole being.”

The origin of ideas

Economics was not his first choice: “It was a coincidence. I never planned to do it as a young man. I much preferred sciences or architecture. But when my parents told me that I should become an accountant I reluctantly agreed on condition that I do it via an economics degree. When doing economics I discovered that it satisfied my curiosity for scientific discovery. After this I stuck with it.”

Prof. Pissarides traces the origins of his current research back to the moment when he wrote “two simple equations that could represent the famous Beveridge curve (the empirical relation between unemployment and vacancies).” “I could see them working exactly in the way empirical labour economists described it and as candidates to open up the whole area of research in the study of markets with frictions: markets that do not jump to full employment in the way described by mainstream theory.”

This was the beginning of a publication cited as the origins of the research which won Prof. Pissarides the Nobel Prize in 2010.* Despite its significance, he describes it as a “eureka moment but not of the kind that makes you run naked in the street. Just as well I guess, London is pretty cold, not to mention other potential hazards.”

Prof. Pissarides characterises the effect of the ERC grant as enabling you to “focus on one big issue and providing you with the support that you need to pursue it. Every single thing that they offer contributes to the research: from the administrative support, through the assistants and collaborators, to the time release that they negotiate with your institution. I am very fortunate to have it.”

The idea of invisibility sounds like something out of science fiction: but could new research turn it from fiction into science? The ambition behind Professor Leonhardt’s ERC- funded research is to trace the connections between abstract theoretical concepts, drawn from geometry and relativity, and their practical implications in fields from materials to photonics. He will be presenting this research to the public at the TEDx Brussels event on 1 December.

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The ideas behind the science of invisibility seem to come from a fantastical realm outside the reach of the laboratory. Yet, the tools used to investigate this are not in themselves complicated. Prof. Leonhardt’s work explores the practicalities of invisibility: drawing on cutting-edge optical science which also has profound implications for relativity theory.

The science of the everyday

This research is founded on the connection between geometry and optics: in exploring the space/time curvature for example. This kind of high-impact physics may seem remote from everyday life but the same physics governs the optics of magnifying glasses, or the displacement of objects in water. The best way to describe this process is to think of fish in an aquarium. We see the fish in places other than where they are actually located because the water has distorted the images. Our perception of space is then altered by the water, as our perception is created by the way in which light perceives the altered space.

The research team are testing this distinction by pushing it to extremes to see where it can be taken, and whether any new and intriguing ideas can be developed.

The fundamentals of science

The mysteries of optics have interested scientists for over a thousand years. They have inspired research into what new technology can teach us about the intersection between physics and optics. Beyond this theoretical exploration, Prof. Leonhardt is tracing the potential practical applications: for example in the sharpness and resolution of imaging techniques, and the implications for quantum physics. The forces acting in a quantum vacuum are of particular interest for this project. Whilst these concepts seem abstract, Prof. Leonhardt explains that the vacuum is something we experience day-to-day: “These forces are what make a parking ticket stick to a windscreen. Both surfaces are electrically neutral but they nonetheless attract each other. The forces are particularly important for micro-mechanical devices where they may cause parts of the machinery to get stuck. Our work should aid the development of frictionless devices. The quantum vacuum is also what drives particle behaviour at the event horizon, only on a cosmological scale. This research could shed light on the mysteries of dark energy, the repulsive force which energises the universe, but about which we understand very little.”

The appeal of optics

Prof. Leonhardt’s current line of research began fifteen years ago, when he was giving a lecture course on general relativity. The details of this were unfamiliar, and it prompted him to think about how to communicate it clearly, and to explore the connections between what he was teaching and his background in optics.

This project should enlarge our understanding of the world at both the small and the cosmological scale. Prof. Leonhardt emphasises that the ERC’s commitment to funding frontier research means that “ideas which may seem outrageous can be pursued. Because if they are right they should be taken seriously, however peculiar they may seem. The significant thing is what they teach us.”

The world beyond the laboratory

Prof. Leonhardt’s research is highly imaginative, but the tools themselves are not particularly technical. He believes this is the source of his appeal to the TEDx audience. He argues that the public can be “gripped by frontier research without even labelling it as such. They can then be made to understand that research takes time. We do not always need to think in terms of applications, though of course these can and do arise in the course of research. If we don’t support frontier research we will just carry on refining existing technologies. We may even run out of ideas.”

Discussing the TEDx event, Prof. Leonhardt is adamant that such dissemination events are vital because the science is “publicly funded and so the public should know where the money goes - that it is not wasted and that it produces interesting ideas and applications.”

The ERC funding is focused on the individual researcher, an emphasis which Prof. Leonhardt argues ideally suits the generation of ideas. Flexibility fosters the kind of science where by definition you don’t know the answers yet. Also inspired by the relationship between imaginative literature, science and musics, he compares the science he does to an orchestra “where both the conductor and the varied musicians are necessary to complete the piece.”

Listen to Prof. Leonhardt on 1 December at 2.15 pm (Salle Henry Le Boeuf). Prof. Leonhardt will also give a demonstration of the science of invisibility at the ERC booth in the 'fumoir' area of BOZAR during coffee breaks.

Prof. Rossetto looks back at the origins of her current project as the result of asking “Why not?” when told that tsunami waves could not be simulated in the lab. She was also attracted to earthquake engineering because it is a new science, and one in which an impact can be made very tangibly. She says that “it allows us to contribute to a revolution in how we design buildings. It combines engineering with seismology, structural dynamics and even the social sciences.”

Her ERC-funded research looks at the damage caused by the impact of tsunamis on buildings by modelling the horizontal force that hits buildings during a tsunami, and studying how they react. Looking at the load that buildings can withstand should teach us more about how we can mitigate these forces. The aim is to improve sea defence systems, rather than the buildings themselves, as it is more likely that these coastal defence systems can be constructed and maintained in the areas of the world that are affected by tsunamis, which tend to be developing nations.

The devastating impact that tsunamis can have on infrastructure is illustrated in very distinct ways by the cataclysmic effects of the “Boxing Day” tsunami (2004) and the tsunami which hit Japan in 2011. In the Indian Ocean crisis, whole communities were swept away by the waves. In Japan, the tsunami caused the meltdown of three of Fukushima’s nuclear reactors. In a finding of particular relevance for this project, it was determined that the plant could have been better protected against natural disaster. It is precisely this kind of planning which interests Prof. Rossetto and her team.

Modelling a tsunami

The difficulties of this research are compounded by the fact that there is little verified observational data on how tsunamis unfold, due to the rarity of these events. The goal of this research is both to experimentally investigate the transformation of a tsunami nearshore and, alongside this, mathematically model the permutations which cannot be physically modelled with any degree of ease. Originally Prof. Rossetto was told that it was not possible to model the tsunami waves, which are extremely long. This became a challenge, which was solved with the building of a new type of pneumatic tsunami generator, which is not limited by the piston capacity of traditional wave generators and which can reproduce the extremely long wavelengths associated with tsunamis. It is also the world’s only facility able to model trough-led tsunami waves. The tsunami generator is mounted in a 70m long and 4m wide flume at the laboratories of HR Wallingford in the UK. The flume is heavily instrumented and enables the researchers to examine the interaction between tsunami waves and coastal defence structures, individual buildings and groups of buildings: more accurately mirroring what happens in a real-life event.

Experiencing disaster

Prof. Rossetto’s research is both experimental and theoretical, encompassing reconstructions and calculations of the tsunami wave and its aftereffects, particularly modelling the fragility of buildings. Calculating the insurance implications of a natural disaster on this scale is a necessary part of the preparations from an infrastructure perspective but there is another side to the insurance question. In a related piece of research, Prof. Rossetto traced a global phenomenon: “how do people living in at-risk areas approach potential disasters? They are not ignorant of the risks, but they do very little to prepare.”

The ERC backing has been of enormous help to the project, not least because of the attention it has attracted. She emphasizes: “On a practical level it has ensured that I can concentrate on the work uninterrupted. It has really opened doors because it is seen as such a seal of quality for the work. It has led to conversations with policy-makers and involvement in co-development projects: for example in research collaborations and discussion to include tsunamis in the next European building codes post-2020.”

Prof. Rossetto believes that her research will “spark imagination” at TEDx Brussels. She observes that the combination of real-life threat and hi-tech solutions produces a narrative that should grip the TEDx audience. In the most practical way possible her aim is to “save lives, and in doing so build a safer world for our children”.

The concept underpinning this is known as haptic feedback: the ability to “feel” and manipulate objects through our sense of touch. Professor Subramanian’s ERC project is a revolutionary exploration of the future possibilities of touchable technology. The work in his lab is multi-faceted - encompassing everything from touchless, floating displays to sensory bubbles. Prof. Subramanian presented his research at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting of the New Champions in Tianjin, China and will be at the Genoa Science Festival (Italy) this month.

He is a veteran of demonstrations, having presented the practical possibilities of his haptic technology to a wide variety of audiences from fellow scientists to potential investors: “Audiences are always surprised to discover that we have something concrete to demonstrate to them - they are expecting the technology to be purely theoretical. With our latest technology, SensaBubble, which uses sensory information delivered in airborne bubbles, there is an added novelty value - it has the entertainment factor as well as scientific significance. It has potential for both education and gaming applications.”

The science of touch

Behind all of these innovations lies a shared aspiration: to harness the rich sensory possibilities of touch to improve our relationship with the technology we use everyday. The ambition is that a sea change in technology will lead to interactions that come naturally to us without the need to learn to use the technology. This means for example that medical students could concentrate on key surgical techniques, rather than on the medical device interface itself. Similarly, car drivers could focus on a safe and pleasurable driving experience rather than worrying about the dashboard controls. New display devices developed in this project will multiply the possibilities for applications of the technology: particularly in terms of teaching aids and in-vehicular interfaces.

Prof. Subramanian and his team are attempting to create displays we do not have to touch. We could feel and interact with these displays without entering in contact with them: the objective is to turn flat 2D information into “feelable” 3D interactions. The haptic technology they are developing is designed with multiple users in mind - each able to receive their own individualised “feelable” feedback from the screen. This technology is game changing not only because it will provide the user with customised feedback, but also because the information is generated with minimal interference: you can be as close as 3cm or as far as 2m, and you do not have to wear gloves or use special equipment in order to interact with the screen.

Interactive workstations

One particular facet of this research is the “MisTable” technology. Prof. Subramanian explains: “The “MisTable” technology relies on creating a see-through and reach-through environment in which the user can interact with the tabletop - reaching through the mist to proactively interact with both the tabletop and the space above it to receive tactile feedback as they learn.”

The idea of “SensaBubble” came from a table tennis game: could information be projected in 3D rather than on a flat screen, and why not on a bubble? SensaBubble produces bubbles filled with fog delivering information to users through in two ways: visuals are projected on the bubble and scent is released in the air when the bubbles burst, creating a multisensory experience.

The ERC funding has not only enabled the team to pursue their ambitious blue-sky research but also to attract talent. Prof. Subramanian’s international team is larger than initially anticipated because “we have had the freedom and flexibility to follow the science without external pressures”, he says.

“We try to combine good science with creativity and inspiration in order to further enhance the research we do,” notes Prof. Subramanian. The project has produced a spin-off company, Ultrahaptics, and the technology has been sold several universities in order to further develop the tools for supporting learning. Ultrahaptics is enabling the scaling up of the technology and allowing the team to explore further entrepreneurial possibilities.

The recent receipt of an ERC “Proof of Concept” grant will allow the team to improve the perceptual quality of the tactile feedback whilst making the system noise free. The team will also use the “Proof of Concept” grant to demonstrate the technology at trade shows in order to help grow the spin-off company.

The team at the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology (MIB) were investigating how some natural organisms manage to lower the level of toxicity and shorten the life span of several notorious pollutants.

Professor David Leys explains the research: “We already know that some of the most toxic pollutants contain halogen atoms and that most biological systems simply don't know how to deal with these molecules. However, there are some organisms that can remove these halogen atoms using vitamin B12. Our research has identified that they use vitamin B12 in a very different way to how we currently understand it.”

He continues: “Detailing how this novel process of detoxification works means that we are now in a position to look at replicating it. We hope that ultimately new ways of combating some of the world’s biggest toxins can now be developed more quickly and efficiently.”

It has taken Prof. Leys 15 years of research to reach this breakthrough, made possible by a dedicated European Research Council (ERC) grant. The main difficulty has been in growing enough of the natural organisms to be able to study how they detoxify the pollutants. The team at the MIB were finally able to obtain key proteins through genetic modification of other, faster growing organisms. They then used X-ray crystallography to study in 3D how halogen removal is achieved.

The main drive behind this research has been to look at ways of combatting the dozens of very harmful molecules that have been released into the environment. Many have been directly expelled by pollutants or from burning household waste. As the concentration of these molecules has increased over time their presence poses more of a threat to the environment and humanity. Some measures have already been taken to limit the production of pollutants, for example PCBs were banned in the United States in the 1970s and worldwide in 2001.

Professor Leys says: “As well as combatting the toxicity and longevity of pollutants we’re also confident that our findings can help to develop a better method for screening environmental or food samples.”

He continues: “I am pleased to have been supported by an ERC grant in the last five years. This long-term funding has been crucial in reaching today’s results on understanding pollutant removal by certain microbes”. He adds: “This discovery is a great example of how the ERC promotes excellent work in the field of biochemistry”.

Neural stem cells – master cells that can develop into any type of nerve cell – are able to generate mini “first aid kits” and transfer them to immune cells. This is the result of a study published today in Molecular Cell, and led by ERC grantee Prof. Stefano Pluchino, based at the University of Cambridge (UK).Written in cooperation with the University of Cambridge

Stem cells hold great promise as a means of repairing cells in conditions such as multiple sclerosis, stroke or injuries of the spinal cord because they have the ability to develop into almost any cell type. Now, new research shows that stem cell therapy can also work through a mechanism other than cell replacement.

In a study published today in Molecular Cell, a team of researchers led by the University of Cambridge (UK), has shown that stem cells “communicate” with cells by transferring molecules via fluid filled bags called vesicles, helping other cells to modify the damaging immune response around them.

Although scientists have speculated that stem cells might act rather like drugs – in sensing signals, moving to specific areas of the body and executing complex reactions – this is the first time that a molecular mechanism for this process has been demonstrated. By understanding this process better, researchers can identify ways of maximising the efficiency of stem-cell-based therapies.

Dr Stefano Pluchino who is the beneficiary of an ERC Starting grant 2010, said: “These tiny vesicles in stem cells contain molecules like proteins and nucleic acids that stimulate the target cells and help them to survive – they act like mini ‘first aid kits’”. He added: “Essentially, they mirror how the stem cells respond to an inflammatory environment like that seen during complex neural injuries and diseases, and they pass this ability on to the target cells. We think this helps injured brain cells to repair themselves.”

Mice with damage to brain cells – such as the damage seen in multiple sclerosis – show a remarkable level of recovery when neural stem/precursor cells (NPCs) are injected into their circulatory system. It has been suggested that this happens because the NPCs discharge molecules that regulate the immune system and that ultimately reduce tissue damage or enhance tissue repair.

The team of researchers from the UK, Australia, Italy, China and Spain has now shown that NPCs make vesicles when they are in the vicinity of an immune response, and especially in response to a small protein, or cytokine, called Interferon- g, which is released by immune cells. This protein has the ability to regulate both the immune responses and intrinsic brain repair programmes and can alter the function of cells by modifying the expression (and activity) of scores of genes.

Their results show that a highly specific pathway of gene activation is triggered in NPCs by IFN-g, and that this protein also binds to a receptor on the surface of vesicles. When the vesicles are released by the NPCs, they adhere and are taken up by target cells. Not only does the target cell receive proteins and nucleic acids that can help them self-repair, but it also receives the IFN-g on the surface of the vesicles, which activates genes within the target cells.

The team, who is funded by the ERC and the Italian MS Society, used electron microscopy and superresolution imaging to visualise the vesicles moving between NPCs and target cells in vitro.

“Our work highlights a surprising novel role for stem-cell-derived vesicles in propagating responses to the environment,” commented Pluchino. “It represents a significant advance in understanding the many levels of interaction between stem cells and the immune system, and a new molecular mechanism to explain how stem-cell therapy works.”

Dr Pluchino believes that being awarded an ERC grant has forced him “to go well outside his comfort zone. Such high risk research often entails reflecting on new scientific approaches and perspectives and it implies new expertise”. He also emphasised that his ERC grant has enabled him to recruit a total of 8 promising post-docs and PhD students in his laboratory. “These ERC grants are helping to keep people in the best EU research hubs, and this has no price”, he concluded.

Project details:

Research area:

LS7 - Diagnostic Tools, Therapies and Public Health

Principal investigator:

Dr Stefano Pluchino

Host institution:

University of Cambridge (UK)

Project:

SEcreted Membrane vesicles: role in the therapeutic plasticity of neural StEM cells (SEM_SEM)

How does our acting, sensing and feeling body shape our mind? Dr Katerina Fotopoulou’s ERC-funded project is an ambitious exploration of the relationship between the body and the mind which spans philosophy, psychology and clinical neuroscience. She will be presenting her work at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting of the New Champions in Tianjin, China (10-12 September). In preparation for her presentation, Dr Fotopoulou is concentrating on one particular aspect of her research: the ramifications of body image.

Details

What we see in the mirror

As part of the ERC’s IdeasLab session in Tianjin (China) on Wednesday 10 September, Dr Fotopoulou will be addressing the question of the embodied self. Her presentation will focus on the relationship between how we see our bodies and how we protect ourselves against an uncritical internalisation of these images. “By giving so much significance to outside images, we forget about what happens inside - how we process these images, how we filter these perceptions and what this does to our sense of self", she says.

Dr Fotopoulou’s ERC project ranges beyond questions of body image into the role of primary body signals. Signals from the body are known to be processed in hierarchically organised re-mappings in the brain. However, it remains unknown how the brain integrates them to give rise to our awareness of ourselves as embodied beings. These signals can be roughly divided into three areas - signals from inside the body, from outside and those we receive from others. They are, perhaps inevitably, interrelated. How the inside of the body makes us feel, for example when our heart is racing, is inextricably linked to what we see in the mirror as well as to the perceptions we have absorbed from others.

Bodily signals continuously condition our sense of self, but we are only really aware of them when something goes wrong: “when you are walking somewhere, you are concentrating not on your sense of the bodily self moving through space but on reaching your destination. But if you trip, then you are suddenly jolted into a sense of your self failing to negotiate a pavement", Dr Fotopoulou says.

Processing pain

One particularly interesting aspect of this research is the group’s investigation of the experience of pain. “The link between stimulus and damage when we feel pain, the perception of pain is not a category in the brain. Instead, our response to pain is based on our previous experience of it,” Dr Fotopoulou explains. “When a child falls over, there is a delay. The child stops and watches its mother. If the mother reacts dramatically, the child will start to cry. If the mother’s response is more practical, the child is much more likely to pick themselves up and carry on. In other words, the child’s experience of pain is conditioned by their mother’s sense of how much danger they are in.”

How mind–body processes can affect healing

The awareness of the relationship between the body and the self is significant when studying the experiences of brain damaged patients. Dr Fotopoulou and her team are particularly interested in patients who deny their conditions, or who are unaware of them - who believe that they retain motion in a paralysed side after a stroke for example. This kind of self-deception can inhibit treatment: it is difficult to treat a patient who does not believe that there is anything wrong with them.

“Brain damaged patients are traditionally treated as broken-down machines in neurological terms,” Dr Fotopoulou explains. “But their problems are psychological as well as physical. By applying cognitive neuroscience methods when treating a small number of patients we have demonstrated that disorders that were previously thought to be intractable can be treated. Studies of this kind are vital: working with patients whose sense of self is fractured can teach us not only about their disorders but also tell us something about how these mechanisms function in healthy individuals.”

The hope is that these findings can be fed into future policy decisions about the treatment of brain damaged patients: particularly in terms of the importance of psychotherapy as part of the rehabilitation process.

ERC funding has enabled Dr Fotopoulou and her team to set up a truly interdisciplinary project. “Wehave been given the luxury of time to apply a wide range of methods and tools from disciplines as diverse as philosophy and psychology.We have the freedom to pursue the best science without any external pressures - to develop ideas and to publish only when the science is ready.” Dr Fotopoulou and her team are based at University College London (UCL), UK.